1. Field of the Invention
In the orthopedic field there is frequently a requirement to provide a protective covering such as a helmet to protect a patient's head, for example after cranial surgery, such a protective helmet assists in preventing injury to a decompressed craniectomy surgical site where a portion of the skull has been removed to treat traumatic brain injury, cerebral edema and elevated intracranial pressure.
2. Description of Related Art
Protective helmets for children and particularly infants with a plagiocaphalic cranium are found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,776,324 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,428,494. A purportedly cosmetically acceptable cranial prosthesis is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,809,690, U.S. Pat. No. 5,218,975 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,549,678.
The human skull is initially formed from a substantial number of individual bone elements. As the child grows during the pregnancy and the first 18 months after birth, an endocrhondra ossification occurs and the respective bony elements will tend to fuse together into a solid bone that forms a cranial vault for the brain. Thus, the cranial anatomy basically includes a frontal bone that extends from the eye cavity or supra orbital process upward to the top of the skull where a pair of parietal bones on either side of the skull are fused together with the frontal bone by a coronal suture. A sagittal suture joins the respective parietal bones extending rearward until they meet a rear occipital bone with the junction of the parietal bones being defined by a lambdoidal suture. On either side of both the frontal bone and the parietal bones are a respective temporal bone and sphenoid bone that are joined by a squamosal suture. The final bone fusion of the skull occurs in adulthood and provides a relatively non-deformable protection from the brain during normal activities.
A traumatic injury such as a severe fall, auto accident or gunshot wound can compromise the skull. Additionally, a stroke patient can be subject to cerebral edema and elevated intracranial pressures necessitating an intervention and a removal of a portion of the skull to allow space for the swelling brain to expand in an effort to prevent brain tissue damage with a potential compromise of cerebral circulation and function.
In such a post-operative environment, there is still a need to provide improvements in cranial protective systems such as an orthopedic protective helmet while facilitating intensive care of the patient to accommodate surgical dressings and post operative treatments including monitoring intracranial pressure sensors and cranial fluid release in a relatively lightweight orthopedic helmet.